The present invention relates to a method and system for processing moving image data; and more, particularly, to a method and system for editing moving image data and providing object information based thereon.
Broadly defined electronic commerce is a modern business methodology that addresses the needs of organizations, merchants, and consumers to cut costs while improving the quality of goods and services and increasing the speed of service delivery. More commonly, e-commerce is associated with the buying and selling of information, products, and services, at present, via computer networks and will be in the future via any one of myriad of networks that will make up the Information Superhighway (I-way).
As the electric commerce spreads, many consumers may want to get information about products, items, or services and so on appearing on a TV or PC monitor screen while watching a movie or drama thereon. For example, when a viewer watches a movie or a drama having moving images on a TV, the viewer may be interested in various products or items, e.g., books, magazines or electric home appliances, appearing as a part of background image viewed on a TV screen. Further, the viewer also may be interested in various accessories, e.g., a cap, a dress and an earring of an actress.
However, there has been no reasonable conventional method and/or tool readily available for providing information to viewers about such products or items appearing on a screen as a part of a moving image.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide a method and system for editing moving image data and providing object information based thereon to users through a communication network.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method for editing moving image data and providing object information based on the moving image data for use in an object information providing system, the system including a server, a plurality of user interfaces and a communication network connecting the user interfaces to the server, the method comprising the steps of: (a) compressing the moving image data having a plurality of frames, thereby supplying compressed moving image frames; (b) storing the compressed moving image frames; (c) extracting frames from the compressed moving image frames in a preset extraction ratio by employing a predetermined technique, thereby obtaining extracted frames and location information thereof within the compressed moving image frames; (d) inserting one or more events at corresponding predetermined positions in each of the extracted frames to thereby supply modified frames, wherein each event is an image of predetermined shape indicating a corresponding object in each of the modified frames; (e) storing the modified frames; (f) at the server""s end, offering an initial information page to a user through a corresponding user interface; (g) at the user""s end, based on the initial information page, choosing a desired program having the compressed moving image frames through the corresponding user interface; (h) at the server""s end, providing the desired program to the user; and (i) at the server""s end, when the user selects a desired frame among the compressed moving image frames, supplying a matched modified frame corresponding to the selected desired frame based on the location information thereof, wherein the matched modified frame is a closest modified frame of the compressed moving image frames.